I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at UCLA, and a member of the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics. I am interested in contributing to our understanding of the formation and evolution of planets with the tools of Astronomy, Geophysics, and Dynamics. You can use the navigation links on the banner above to learn more about my teaching and research interests.

Here is my CV.

News:

A planetary taxonomy proposal (2009 Jun 9).

A special session at the 214th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Pasadena, CA was devoted to "Planet Classification in the 21st Century". My talk can be downloaded here.

MESSENGER spacecraft executes Mercury flyby sequences flawlessly (2008 Jan 14 and Oct 6).

Instruments aboard MESSENGER returned spectacular new data of Mercury. My role on the Science Team is to combine spacecraft and ground-based data (gravity, topography, dynamics) to characterize the interior of the planet.

First detection of the YORP effect (2007 Mar 07).

Radar and optical observations of asteroid (54509) YORP provided the first direct observational evidence that sunlight modifies the spin of asteroids.

Observations of asteroid 2000 BD19 at Arecibo Observatory (2006 Feb 25).

Successful observations at Arecibo Observatory provided precise range measurements to the asteroid 2000 BD19, which comes very close to the Sun (the closest approach distance is only 20 times the radius of the Sun). The asteroid's orbit is perturbed by general relativity and the non-spherical shape of the Sun.

What makes a planet?

Does the official definition make sense?

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